Political India: Engaging America

From The Hindu

An earthquake measuring 7.2 on the Richter Scale rocked large tracts of the Western coast of Mexico and the United States 3:40 p.m. (local time) on Easter Sunday. The quake struck around 62 km from Mexicali, near the U.S.-Mexico border and was felt hundred of km away, throughout southern California.

The death toll, estimated to be two so far, has been relatively low and structural damage limited compared to recent earthquakes in Haiti and Chile. According to reports this was due to the quake having a shallow depth of 9.6 km.

The full extent of structural damage remains unknown; most of the destruction appears to be centred around Mexicali, the capital of Mexico's Baja California state, and in the town of Calexico in California.

Alfredo Escobedo, director of emergency services in Baja California, confirmed that one man was killed near Mexicali, near the epicentre of the earthquake when his house collapsed around him.

Earlier quakes in Haiti and Chile had clearly heightened the sense of fear. “One way or another, we have the disasters in Chile and Haiti in the back of our heads. There is a fear that it could happen to us at any moment,” Antonio Fernandez, the manager of Hotel Mexico in Mexicali, was reported as saying in a telephone interview. “It seemed that the earth would never stop shaking, and the aftershocks are constant.”

With power failures affecting most of Baja California and phone lines completely down in areas like Mexicali, agencies said it was impossible to get in touch with many establishments even until late on Sunday night.

Photographs in local media showed roadways cracked in half and officials reported that a number of residents in Mexicali were trapped in their homes. A state of emergency has been declared in Baja California, and teams from Tijuana were reported to be en route to Mexicali Sunday night to aid in rescue efforts. The U.S. Geological Survey recorded several aftershocks, the biggest being 5.1 on the Richter Scale, slightly north of the border U.S.-Mexico border.

Labels: disaster, earthquake, Mexicali, Mexico, Southern California, U.S. Geological Survey

From The Hindu

At a time of heightened concern over drugs-related bloodshed in Mexico — some of it affecting American citizens — Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced plans to hold discussions with authorities there next week.

The talks come close on the heels of the killings in Ciudad Juarez, by suspected drug gangs, of three persons associated with the U.S. consulate there. Last weekend, an employee of the consulate, her husband and the husband of a Mexican employee were gunned down. President Barack Obama had said he was “deeply saddened and outraged” at the events.

The State Department announced that Ms. Clinton would travel to Mexico City for the Merida U.S.-Mexico High Level Consultative Group meeting on March 23. In an indication of the seriousness with which the U.S. views the recent escalation in violence and important questions surrounding protection of the U.S.-Mexico border, Ms. Clinton will be joined by a host of senior administration officials on this trip.

According to an official announcement, the talks will be attended by Secretary of Defence Robert M. Gates, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet A. Napolitano, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism John O. Brennan, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael G. Mullen, Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security John Morton, Acting Deputy Attorney-General Gary G. Grindler; Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Director Adam Szubin, Office of National Drug Control Policy Acting Deputy Director of the Office of Supply Reduction Patrick Ward and Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Michele M. Leonhart.

The talks also follow a decision by the U.S., earlier this week, to freeze financing for a “virtual” fence programme started by the Bush administration in 2005 to better control the 3,200-km border by 2011. The fence is a network of cameras, sensors and radar. Ms. Napolitano said: “The system of sensors and cameras along the Southwest border known as SBInet has been plagued with cost overruns and missed deadlines,” highlighting the need to review the project.

The talks next week will be chaired by Ms. Clinton and Mexican Foreign Secretary Patricia Espinosa and will focus on “enhanced engagement in support of our shared goals of breaking the power of drug trafficking organisations… [and] creating a 21st century border; and building strong and resilient communities,” said the State Department.

Labels: drugs, Hillary Clinton, Mexico, U.S. Consulate killings, USA